Who’s the fastest of them all? Wendy's boasts fastest drive-thru, Burger King still tasty but slow: study

Wendy's wears the crown for fastest drive-thru but Burger King is a Whopper of a wait.

The red-headed Wendy represents fast-food that truly earns its designation as fast. Average service time in a Wendy's drive-thru line was only 129.75 seconds, according to a recent study by QSR magazine and Insula Research. Whether you want a Baconator, Spicy Chicken Sandwich or Frosty, if you've got the need for speed, the red-head will satisfy your craving fast.

The competition was not even close. Runner-up Taco Bell was 20 seconds slower on average than the Dave Thomas hamburger empire.

Burger King, on the other hand, has apparently spent too much time sitting on the throne when it should have been getting its orders together. With an average drive-thru wait of 201.33 seconds, the king's dominion does not extend to swiftness.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Say what? Taco Bell has the best audio of the major chains.

Despite its continued quickness, even Wendy's cannot compete with the numbers it put up about a decade ago. Wendy's had the fastest average on record in 2003 with 116.2 seconds.

Say what? Taco Bell has the best audio of the major chains. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Since then speed has dropped across all franchises, the result, say some in the business, of greater choice and more complicated dishes on the menu.

"You want a chicken sandwich, and you want mustard, pickle, onion on it? OK, I get the chicken fillet, the mustard, pickle, and onion, put it on a bun, wrap it up, and you've got it," Denny Lynch, senior vice president of communications at Wendy's, told QSR.

"You want a smoothie?" he explained, "OK, I've got to get the ingredients, I've got to portion out the ingredients, I've got to put it into a blender and smooth it."

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Would you like a ‘thank you’ with that? Chick-fil-A was found to be most polite.

These results come from the Drive-Thru Performance Study, which QSR magazine and Insula Research have compiled for the last 14 years. Last year they identified six mainstays of drive-thru excellence: McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, Burger King, Krystal, and Taco Bell.

Would you like a ‘thank you’ with that? Chick-fil-A was found to be most polite. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

This summer, to test the mettle of the chains, researchers ordered a main item, a side dish and a drink from these benchmark restaurants during lunch and dinner hours across 41 states. They made special requests, surveyed the landscape, noted cleanliness and timed their visits. A total of 2,053 visits were conducted.

Other findings: If you want it right and polite, Chick-fil-A topped those categories. If you want to be heard at the window and hear what is being said to you, Taco Bell had the best audio speakers for ordering, with 98.4 percent of drive-thru employees being clear and understandable.

And if you hate looking at open cans for trash, well they all have them, but Burger King, at 66.4 percent, had the least number of containers visible to customers .